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As the CMSD Fab Lab continues to grow we are happy to share more district-wide resources. Please explore the items listed below and feel free to reach out to Sarah Wallace at sarah.wallace@clevelandmetroschols with any questions or if you would like to discuss how to bring Fab to your CMSD school.

Fab? STEM? Makerspace?

What is a Fab Lab? A STEM Lab? A Makerspace? Call it whatever you want- all of these terms in one way or another come down to the big idea of students learning core academic content (any subject, any grade level) through an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary project in which they make an artifact and teachers most likely use some sort of non-traditional pedagogy. Learn more here.

Fab Map

The map below details which schools having makerspaces, digital fabrication equipment, robotics, tech or computer science teachers, CTE programs and more. The data is currently only pulling from K-8 schools that have responded to a survey. The map will be updated when more information becomes available.

Building a MakerSpace, FAB Lab or STEM Lab?

The map below details which schools having makerspaces, digital fabrication equipment, robotics, tech or buying machines, supplies, consumables, tools, furniture and activities or kits for a makerspace can be daunting. Trying to build the perfect space to inspire students and get them making with a small budget is a challenge, but also having to spend a large amount of money by the end of month is equally difficult. Check out the resource linked below and reach out to the folks listed on the document to help you curate the perfect makerspace for your CMSD school.

What to Make? What to Teach?

Anyone can 3d print a model they downloaded from the internet or use some paper to build a bridge. What makes MakerEducation special is how students experience learning through the act of creating a tangible artifact of their master of core content while simultaneously increasing their ability to be better twenty first century citizens by collaborating and using technology. Check out the large collection of Fab Projects in the presentation below.

More Resources

Technically, to be a Fab Lab, a space needs digital fabrication equipment (like a 3D printer or laser cutter). A makerspace doesn’t have any specific guidelines, they should just be filled with great things that people can make even better things with! That means, tools, machines, consumables (like paper, cardboard, etc) and space to get stuff done.

Makerspaces.com has done a lot of work around this question and has come up with this really big and really great Supply List. Check it out.

There are many different brands of makerspace technologies and equipment!  Below is a list of recommended equipment that the CMSD FabLab team has experience with and can therefore help your school based team learn how to use these technologies and integrate them into your classrooms!

Always Start with Cardboard

Making things with a 3D Printer or Laser is awesome and teaches students many additional skills around technology and software, but sometimes it’s best to use cardboard. Corrugated cardboard sheets are the best for any makerspace along with a few pairs of ZipSnips- $40. Check out more on Cardboard Construction here.

3D PRINTING

Flash Forge Finder or Inventor $400-$800   These machines are GREAT for the classroom. They are inexpensive, easy to use, robust and resilient.  They have excellent quality given the price of the machine and are a perfect place to start your makerspace.  CMSD has MANY of these machines in classrooms across the district and can offer training, PD and maintenance.

Makerbot Sketch or Replicator $1500-3000 are amazing machines that are used in makerspaces and Fab Labs around the world. They offer higher quality and a larger  build plate than other machines and are very dependable .  CMSD has many of these machines in the district and can offer training, PD and Maintenance. 

Ultimaker $2500-$6000 are high quality machines that offer a few different sizes, included the Ultimaker5 which has a build area about twice as big as other machines.  These 3D printers look very cool, create high quality prints but can be a bit finicky.  CMSD has a few of these machines and can offer training, PD and Maintenance.

VINYL CUTTING

Silhouette Cameo  $200-$300  This is a very powerful desktop vinyl cutter. The software for this machine, Silhouette Studio, is similar to a professional design software but is free!    Students can design logos for stickers, t-shirts, mugs, back packs and more!  This machine also cuts paper, fabric and more!  

LASER CUTTING

CMSD Fab Lab can help with support on Epilog Laser Cutters ($15,000+)  or Glowforge($2500-$4000) 

Laser cutting and engraving requires ventilation and exhaust. This small fan can be purchased for $30 and can be used with duct tubes (like dryer tubes, foil or plastic) to vent out window. If an open window is not available, these machines must use a filtration system which can cost $2000-$3000.

SIMPLE ELECTRONICS

From paper circuit supplies to Makey Makeys to Arduinos, electronics open so many doors for students to create wonderful things using digital fabrication and computer science.   These materials can range from $5- $500 per student/set. 

Robotics

Sphero Robots are an excellent introduction to coding and robotics. They are perfect for elementary aged students or beginning middle schoolers. Their Mini- Education Pack (16 bots) is $1300.

First Robotics, is recommended for middle and high school students. These robots are build your own, so you start off with components and students create a machine that they design and program to complete a task. There is a yearly competition and multiple CMSD teams.

Maker Carts

These carts are full of amazing things!  Consumables, tools, project ideas, it’s really an impressive addition to any makerspace. The run about $6,000

This cart, from Lakeshore Learning is a bit smaller and costs $900. 

The CMSD Fab Lab is excited to partner with Scholastic to get students reading STEM stories and making great things.

Scholastic Magazines

News, Science, Math, Art

Grade Levels: 1-8

Scholastic News is the cross-curricular nonfiction magazine that brings the world into your classroom. Each issue is packed with a wide variety of articles that build knowledge and ignite student discovery of real-world social studies and science topics such as current events, history, civics, technology and SEL. From debates to profiles of inspiring kids, our original stories spark curiosity, build empathy and foster rich discussion.

Rising Voices: STEM in Fiction

Grade Levels: K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Each Rising Voices Library provides students with high-interest, culturally relevant texts that give context to today’s world while celebrating the stories of the historically underrepresented. These stories are female focused, but are engaging for all readers. These books, paired with innovative teaching materials aligned to the CASEL framework, build a classroom community that broadens the world for students from all backgrounds and enables deep discussions about inclusivity, social justice, and empathy for others.

Scholastic has partnered with a unique group of S.T.E.A.M. mentors to curate a collection of stories that shatter misconceptions about girls and women as leaders in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math. Access to these texts provides all children and educators an opportunity to celebrate aspirational stories of critical thinking and innovation.

Each grade-level library includes:

• 50 books (25 titles including 5 anchor texts, 2 copies each)
• Teaching Cards (1 per anchor text)
• Teacher’s Guide
• Access to Digital Resources Website
• Attractive storage bins
• Labeling stickers

STEAM Book Packs

Grade Levels: Pre k, K, 1, 2, 3

Send your students home with My Books Every Day-a collection of high-quality, cost-efficient books and activity sets designed to reinforce key learning skills, increase year-round independent reading, build home libraries, and encourage all students to become lifelong learners.

This Let’s Discover! (STEAM) set includes:
• 5 High-Interest Books
• 1 Student Journal
• 1 Family Guide
• 1 Grade-Level Program Guide

Story Time STEM

Grade Levels: K- 2

Many favorite folk and fairy tales offer a perfect segue for introducing young children to early STEM concepts. Children explore ways to help the Gingerbread Man cross the river, design sturdy homes for the Three Little Pigs, build a wolf-proof fence for Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, and more. Each folk and fairy tale comes with three STEM activities and companion recording sheets. A joyful way to spark a love of science in little learners!

STEAM Classroom Library for Art Teachers

Grade Levels: Pre k – 8; 60 different titles at different reading levels.

Reading deeply in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics exposes students to the vocabulary and information they need to be prepared for the future. The books in the STEAM collections present a variety of topics and content that inspires critical thinking, curiosity, questioning, and enthusiasm for knowledge. The high-quality, age-appropriate, and engaging books across STEAM topics reinforce an eagerness to discover the world and set up a foundation for success.

STEM Classroom Library

Grade Levels: prek – k, 1-2, 3-5, 6-8; 10-15 different titles, 2 copies each

Integrate science, technology, engineering, and math into daily reading practice with a wide variety of content area titles. Provide cross-disciplinary opportunities to read independently.

To learn more about any of these offerings, pleaser reach out to Sarah Wallace, or check the newsletters for the next sign up.

STEM and STEAM and Fab, oh my!

The conversation about STEM / STEAM/ Fab / PBL/ MakerEd has been going on since the very first teacher thought up these fancy terms and labeled the wonderful learning that was happening in their classrooms and STEM (or STEAM, or Fab, or MakerEd…)

All of these terms in one way or another come down to the big idea of students learning core academic content (any subject, any grade level) through an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary project in which they make an artifact and teachers most likely use some sort of non-traditional pedagogy.

There’s a lot of edubabble in there, but this is the best way I can describe what it is that I do as a STEM/STEAM/PBL/FAB/MakerEd teacher. And I definitely am all of those things (although I started out as an algebra teacher in a flipped classroom).

STEM/STEAM/PBL/Fab/MakerEd is just kids learning while doing cool project. Some are big, some are small, some involve big machines and technology, while others just use a pencil and paper. There is no one perfect definition or comparison of all of these terms. But I like to think if it’s done right, kids are learning more genuinely, having more fun, and not only mastering core content, but also hitting soft skills as well.

The only thing that all of these should have in common (and that’s a big should, it doesn’t always happen and that’s okay too!) is some form of the engineering design process. We want our students to be thoughtful and reflective of what they learning and making. The eight step process shown in the poster to the left is a great, kid friendly version of the Design Process. (if you’re interested in getting this poster for your classroom, please reach out to Sarah Wallace).

Project Based Learning is at the heart of Maker / Fab Projects. Sure, you can do a Fab project that isn’t a PBL, like just designing and printing a model of a animal cell for example, but that would be like studying musical notes on paper and never hearing the song played on an instrument. Not all PBLs have a Maker/Fab component, but most do. Creating an physical artifact of learning is a wonderful way for students to demonstrate their mastery of a topic and core content. Doing so with a Maker/Fab/Engineering Design approach can deepen the students’ learning and overall experience with the project.

When folks are talking about PBL, we often hear ‘interdisciplinary’ or ‘transdisciplinary’ thrown around interchangeably. But these two terms are different and result in very different types of projects. A monodisciplinary project is any project a teacher does within their own discipline, creating a model of the layers of the Earth for example out of foam, or even 3D printing it for example.

A multidisciplinary version of this project may have the Science teacher creating models of the Earth while the Social Studies teacher talks about the history of map making and how who makes the maps can result in inequitable, maps full of falsehoods. These projects are related but are still separate. An interdisciplinary approach to this project may have the Science and Math teachers working together where the Math teacher is having students do the scale factor and fraction part of the project while the Science teacher works on the models of the Earth. They are working together and students are experiencing how both disciplines can be useful to complete the project.

A transdisciplinary project exists without disciplines in mind and are often taught by one or two teachers (their subject matter can be anything). The project may be for students to create a model of the Earth. The teacher(s) could cover some or all of the possible topics listed in the Project Web to the right.

For example, if the two instructors were Math and ELA teachers maybe the project may focus on researching the Flat Earth Debate and argumentative writing and the Four Color Theorem and Scale Factor. But the teachers would also touch on all of the other topics. We, as educators, need to be okay with discussing ideas with our students that we are not experts in. There are so many resources available online for teachers to learn just a little bit about the other topics in the web to make the project feel bigger than a Math and/or ELA project and connected to the world.

Transdisciplinary Projects allow students to complete a task and learn along the way. These projects should be driven by teacher or student passion and interest. For example a Science teacher may lead a Calligraphy project. Students would learn the history of language, the evolution of different alphabets, and the chemistry of how ink is made while learning calligraphy, writing a poem and making a piece of art to show both.

Some projects may last one day, one week, or even a full quarter. Each project may be totally different from the next. Schools can think about introducing projects one day a week, or for a few days at the beginning or end of a quarter as a way to help teachers get excited about and ease into a new way of teaching and assessing learning.

The CMSD Fab Lab has done hundreds of projects with students over the past decade and works with dozens of teachers each year to bring them to the STEM/STEAM/PBL/FAB/MakerEd dark side of teaching. Explore the resources on this site and please register for our newsletter or reach out the CMSD FabLab manager, Sarah Prendergast Wallace to see how you can get more involved and get your students making.

A Fab Lab, or digital fabrication laboratory, is a place to play, to create, to learn, to mentor, to invent: a place for learning and innovation. [fabfoundation.org]  In formal education, Fab Labs are a place for students to create tangible artifacts of their learning using a combination of no-tech, low-tech, and high-tech tools and materials.  

Fab Labs are at the top of the maker-education pyramid.  Makered is the idea that kids should create things while learning to explore new ideas, show the topics they’ve mastered and tackle new skills along the way.  If we want our students to make great things, they need a place to do that.  In a perfect world every teacher has a side room filled with everything they could ever need or want for their lessons and students, but in reality we all know that for many teachers, projects involve running to the dollar store the night before trying to gather up materials.  Part of Makered is allowing students a safe space to make things, make mistakes, make a mess and learn while doing it.   

The first level of these spaces (which might be a separate room or part of a room, it may be a rolly cart that can be checked out, or it might be a closet in a classroom that can be opened on maker days and closed on others) is a Tinkerspace.  A tinkerspace is an inviting play space where new makers can feel safe to make great things.  A tinkerspace is full of stuff.  Crafty stuff, messy stuff, junky stuff, so much stuff.   Think wrapping paper tubes, glue guns, string, popsicle sticks, cardboard, paper, etc.  There also might be broken stuff- kids sure can learn a lot from taking apart an old computer keyboard!  In general, tinkerspaces are mostly for younger or new makers to make something in an hour or so that might be an idea, prototype or craft. 

The next level of Makered spaces is a Makerspace.  These spaces have most of the same stuff as a tinkerspace does but with a little more tech and focus.  There may be a 3D printer in a makerspace, or a desktop paper cutter like a Cricut.  You might find some simple electronics like paper circuits or makeymakeys and you’re definitely still going to find lots of random stuff.   Projects in a Makerspace tend to be a bit more intentional.  Students may be trying to create a solution to a problem, instead of just trying to make something that looks interesting or is fun.  There’s still a lot of mess and mistakes and stuff, but there’s more intent, reflection and learning as well.  

And at the top of the pyramid are Fab Labs.  A Digital Fabrication Laboratory is full of high-tech equipment including 3D printers and scanners, laser engravers, CNC routers, mills, large scale printers and vinyl cutters, circuit boards and programming equipment and also a lot of stuff.  In Fab Labs makers are working on creating solutions to big problems, and still making quite the mess as they do so.  There are Fab Labs all around the world, at think tanks, universities, companies, community centers and more.   Some Fab Labs are dedicated to innovation and creating new products to help the world while others are small and are more focused on creating the makers of tomorrow.  

All of these different types of spaces and Makered in general pair nicely with Project Based Learning in that if we, as teachers, want our students to take the time to make something, they should be making something significant and connected to not only academic content, but also to the real world.  The projects that the CMSD Fab Lab uses and hopes to teach teachers to create are transdisciplinary, real world, engaging lessons that get kids learning and making wonderful things. 

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) is proud to be one of the few districts in the country  have a multi-faceted Fab Lab at the district level including a Mobile Fab Lab.  The Mobile Lab visits K-8 CMSD schools to inspire young students with the wonders of digital fabrication and STEM through content focused projects.  These visits are free to CMSD schools. 

Thanks to the generosity of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Goodyear, as of 2019, CMSD also has a stationary Fab Lab at the East Professional Center for teacher use! The EPC STEM +Fab Lab is open for all CMSD employees to learn about Digital Fabrication through workshops, and open lab time.  The EPC Fab Lab also runs a Lending Library program where teachers can learn about and borrow digital fabrication machines and materials to use in their own clasrooms. 

Many schools throughout our district also house Fab Labs or makespaces of their own.  From fully functional Fab Labs at schools like MC2STEM, to makerspaces at schools like Hannah Gibbons, and dozens of FABulous teachers taking on making on their own with 3D printers, paper cutters or electronics in their own classrooms all around the district. 

The CMSD Fab Lab has two major goals: 

1. Train as many teachers as possible on how to use digital fabrication in their classrooms in meaningful and thoughtful ways. 

2. Expose and engage as many students as possible in interdisciplinary, rigorous projects in which students create a tangible artifact of their learning through use of a digital fabrication machine, tool, or material. 

Interested in learning more? Check out the information at CMSDfablab.org or contact the Lab manager, Sarah Prendergast Wallace at sarah.wallace@clevelandmetroschools.org  or sign up for our newsletter. 

Buttons are a fun and exciting way to get students to create a long lasting project that can fit into almost any topic or can be a nice school-wide addition!

Button machines are available to borrow from the CMSD Fab lab and are from the American Button Machine company! You can learn how to use a button maker in just a few minutes! Check out the video below to see a recap on ow to make a button.

Please let us know if you need more supplies.

Learn more at Americanbuttonmachine.com

Grade Range:  4-8

Class time: 2 hours

Subject Areas: Math

Overview:  Students will explore tangrams online or in person and review fractions and geometry.

What are Tangrams

• The tangram (Chinese: 七巧板; pinyin: qīqiǎobǎn; lit. ‘seven boards of skill’) is a dissection puzzle consisting of seven flat polygons, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective is to replicate a pattern (given only an outline) generally found in a puzzle book using all seven pieces without overlap. (source: Wikipedia)

Play online

Play with Tangrams on Mathigon.

Fabrication and Math Activity

Copy this page of Printable Tangrams onto colored paper or cardstock and have each student cut them out to create their own tangram set

Laser Cutter: Use a laser cutter, to cut out pieces of cardboard, wood, or acrylic.

Have students work through this Tangram Activity– be sure to look at the math section first to check if it is appropriate for your students’ level. Feel free to make a copy of the activity and edit it to differentiate.

Extension Activities:

After the students design their symbol it is up to the teacher to expand on the activity the following are some ideas that would work.  Please let the MFL team know if you think of anything that should be added to this list!

ART: have students research Chinese art and decorate their tangrams in a traditional way.

HISTORY:  Ancient China!

MATH: Fractions and proportions.

ELA:  have students create an animal out of their tans and then make up a character for the animal. They can trace or tape the tans onto a piece of paper and color a background for their character.

Please take pictures of the work you do after the MFL visit and send them to the MFL team along with any anecdotal information about who the project went.  Or, if you combine a few of the extensions and have the students present their work, please invite the MFL team!

The CMSD Fab Lab is stocked with fab equipment waiting to be put to use in your classrooms! Below is a list of the machines and materials available in the fab lab.

To borrow materials from the fab lab, teachers must attend a workshop or training session at the EPC STEM Lab. Some materials require a short, 30 minute training session, like the button maker or heat press, while others like the 3D printers require an intro session and ‘homework’. To learn more, please reach out to the Fab Lab Manager at sarah.wallace@clevelandmetroschools.org, or sign up for our newsletter. Also, please read over the ‘fine print’ at the bottom of this page.

3D Printers

The CMSD Fab Labs has Flash Forge Finder and Inventor printers available for teachers to borrow. These are amazing printers that are easy to use and can bring student learning to life. The Fab Lab has 3D printers to borrow for your classroom as well as all the filament you could need. NOTE: you must install Flash Print to your laptop to use this machine.

Click here to see some examples of 3D printing projects.

This technology requires an intro training session, homework assignments and a hardware training.

Click here to learn more about the Fab Training and Home.

Vinyl Cutters

These Silhouette Cameo machines are great for creating 2 dimensional designs such as stickers, labels, and paper shapes. They can be used to make logos, tshirts and more. The fab lab has machines that can be borrowed and all the vinyl you could need to create amazing projects. Note: You must install SILHOUETTE STUDIO onto a laptop to use this machine.

Click here to see more examples of Vinyl Cutter projects

This technology requires an intro training session, homework assignments and a hardware training.

Click here to learn more about the Fab Training and Home.

Paper Circuits

Paper circuits are a great, low tech way to talk about science with students and create some fun projects. The fab lab can provide copper tape, batteries, clips and LEDs for all of your students as well as training on how to use these materials.

Click here to see more examples of Paper Circuits projects

This technology requires a one hour, in person training session. Sign up to come into any materials pick up session to learn more and get materials for your classroom!

Makey Makeys

Makey Makeys are an invention kit to introduce students to the world of coding in a fun and interactive way. The Fab Lab has class sets (12 kits) that can be borrowed for your classroom as well as training on how to use these fun tools.

Click here to see more examples of Makey Makey projects

This technology requires a one hour, in person training session. Sign up to come into any materials pick up session to learn more and get materials for your classroom!

Arduino

Arduinos are single-board microcontrollers that are a great tool for students to create more complex coded projects. The Fab Lab has about 25 arduinos that can be borrowed for your classroom as well as training on how to use these fun tools.

This technology requires a one hour, in person training session. Sign up to come into any materials pick up session to learn more and get materials for your classroom!

Button Makers

Button makers are a great, low tech, easy, way to take your project to the next level. These machines are easy to use and can be used with just paper and markers or incorporated into a computer design project. The fab lab has button makers to borrow and all the materials you need to create buttons.

Click here to learn more about the button makers and how to use them!

This technology requires a half hour, in person training session. Sign up to come into any materials pick up session to learn more and get materials for your classroom!

Heat Press

A heat press is a large iron like machine that can be used along with a vinyl cutter to create custom t-shirts or canvas bags. The Fab Lab has one heat press to borrow.

Click here to see more examples of Heat Press projects

This technology requires a half hour, in person training session. Sign up to come into any materials pick up session to learn more and get materials for your classroom!

Maker Materials

Do you have a project in mind that you’d like to do with your students but need some materials? We might have it! Tons of cardboard? wood- paint- power tools- feathers- batteries? Can’t hurt to ask! We love to learn about the maker projects happening around the district and would love to be a part of your project. Reach out to Sarah Wallace to learn more!

Fine Print

• The CMSD Fab Lab Lending Library is only available to CMSD employees.
• Machinery can be borrowed for 1 academic quarter at a time if there is a waiting list for that technology.
• The CMSD Fab Lab can also provide the consumables needed for the machines (i.e. the filament for the 3D printers and vinyl for the silhouettes).
• Depending on availability, teachers may be put on a waiting list for a specific technology.
• Interested teachers who work in the same building may be asked to partner up.
• If the technology is not being used in the school or is not being used appropriately, the Fab Lab will ask that it is returned so other teachers and students can utilize the machine.

Grade Range: 1-8

Subject Areas:  History / Social Studies, ELA, Art, and Technology 

Class time: 2 hours – 3 days (can be differentiated)

Overview: Students will engage with a variety of RBG multimedia to learn about her amazing accomplishments throughout her life and career before designing and creating their own version of her iconic necklace.

Women’s History Month Resources

• The National Women’s History Museum has an amazing website that is full of resources from lesson plans, biographies, and more.

• Have your students visit the Biography page and learn about one of the women featured on the site. You can assign students a person, or let them choose. This could act as a kicking off point to do a full report (a non-fiction writing prompt, or create a poster or google slide, etc.) on an amazing female figure, or it could be a short activity where the students have 5 minutes to learn as much as they can about their person and then give a short presentation of the ‘top 5 facts’ to the rest of the class.
• NatGeo Kids has a similar resource that is a little more assessable for younger readers: Women Heroes

• PBS Kids overview of Women’s History Month (2 minutes)

• Top 10 First for Women in History from MsMojo ( 11 minutes) (appropriate for grades 4-8)

• Women in Science video (5 minutes) (grades 1-8)

• Classroom Doodles has a great collection of WHM coloring sheets that are free and printable, you can also google image search for additional coloring pages for a specific woman in history to find more options.

• Famous Women in the Millennium Word Search

• GREAT K12 Reader worksheet on Historic Women World Leaders! Students will need access to a computer to do research on the 10 women featured to be able to match them up.

• K12 Reader Sally Ride nonfiction worksheet- read and learn

Celebrating Women in our Lives

There are so many women who have made an impact on history through their courage, discoveries and accomplishments. But which woman means the most to you in your life? Maybe a family member? Teacher? Coach? There are so many wonderful women in all of our lives!

Give students some time to create WHM cards for the important women in their lives. Encourage students to write personalized notes in the card that are grade appropriate and heartfelt, or include information about a famous woman from history they learned about.

• RBG’s intricate collars and necklaces became iconic over the 27 years she spent on the US supreme court. The collars and necklaces have been recreated countless times and resold as fashion, pins, made from beads, knitwear and more.

ACTIVITY

• Have your students talk about why they think RBG wore such expressive necklaces
• Is there a piece of clothing or an accessory that makes them feel more confident or strong?
• Have students research RBG’s collars and necklaces over time, or show them this compilation of some of her more famous looks: RBG COLLARS

Create

• Simple
  • Using a white paper plate, have students cut a circle out of the top/center as seen in the photo to the right and a slit along the top so the plate can be easily placed over the head. Have students draw their designs directly onto the plate and color with crayons, markers or paint.
• Intermediate
  • First have students sketch out their designs for a collar/necklace on scrap paper. Have students focus on symmetry as all of RBGs collars were very symmetrical and geometric.
  • Using the plate method above, students can draw their designs on the plate, or cut out small pieces of colored paper to create a mosaic/beaded looking piece. Or allow students total creativity and invite them to create their collar using any materials they’d like from strong to pasta or cut up newspapers
  • *For older students, a plate might not be large enough, in this case, cutting out circles from cardboard, card stock, or fabric will work too.
• Design using Mandalas
  • Have students create a mandala design by hand or using one of the tools below and use it as inspiration for their RBG collar
    • Structured online mandala creator: Steadtler
    • Free hand online mandala creator -mandalagaba
    • Fun Mandala Coloring online activity

• FAB
  • 3D Printing
    • Have students design their collars in Tinkecad. Be sure students focus on symmetry and overlapping to ensure the necklace would print well. I suggest that the students first create a necklace base to add shapes to so it can print with a solid flat back. Encourage students to use the Duplicate, Rotate and Align features to make their designs more precise
    • Full size necklaces may be challenging to print for time and materials purposes and some printers may not have the ability to print large items. Try having students sign their designs down to 2-3 inches in diameter and turning their designs into a keychain or magnet.
  • Vinyl Cutting / Laser Cutting
    • Simple: use your laser cutter or vinyl cutter to cut out the outline of the collar or necklace and allow students to decorate it.
    • Use your laser cutter or vinyl cutter to cut out small geometric shapes that students can arrange in patterns to create a symmetric, geometric design.
    • Design: If your students are familiar with a design software, have the design their own collar to be cut from cardboard, paper or fabric to make their own lace.

Extension Activities:

After the students design their symbol it is up to the teacher to expand on the activity the following are some ideas that would work.  Please let the MFL team know if you think of anything that should be added to this list!

ART: have students research ancient Egyptian collars and how they were created with jewels and gold.

HISTORY:  Connect these power necklaces to armor and how female warriors of the past protected themselves.

MATH: Have students create a simple fractal design to use for a collar design.

ELA:   There are countless books about RBG out there and writing exercises for students of all grades to engage with!

Please take pictures of the work you do after the MFL visit and send them to the MFL team along with any anecdotal information about who the project went.  Or, if you combine a few of the extensions and have the students present their work, please invite the MFL team

These project plans can be used by ANY teacher to make great things in their classrooms. Each Fab Project Plan has many content connections and ideas for activities. The projects are designed to be transdisciplinary and allow teachers and students to explore many different subject areas. Take some time and explore some of these project plans and let us know what you think! Check out our giant project idea list here!

All Project Plans from the CMSD Fab Lab:

• Alebrijes- Mexican art sculptures
• Layers of the Earth
• Dia de los Muertos Sugar Skulls and Alebrijes
• Tinkecad Jack-o-Lantern project
• Design your own Adinkra Symbol
• MLK and Obama mini project
• RBG Collar for Women’s History Month
• Maker Challenge: Eiffel Tower
• Maker Challenge: Paper Airplanes
• Maker Challenge: STEAM- Art Projects
• Tangrams and Fractions

CMSD Teacher Written Projects:

• Community Garden – Holtz
• Power of the Rainforest – Yarbrough
• Public Art – Pittard
• Design a Book Cover – Seigler
• Social Justice Board Game – Carney
• Recycling is Required- Holtz
• Moon Mysteries- Vance
• Board games – Greenwalt
• Found Object Art – Harbert
• Black Wallsteet- Grays
• Monster Mashup – Brown
• 3D Printed Lithophanes – Harbert
• Food Sourcing- Vance
• Dinner Party for Pets (Social Studies /ELA) – Brown
• Dinner Party for Pets (Science / Math) -Brown
• Cymatics- Sound Phenomena – Muhammed
• African Masks and Artifacts – Pittard
• Titanic- Yarbrough
• Food Truck Challenge- Gamble
• Climate Change Escape Room – Carney+Gamble

Grade Range: 1-8

Class time: 2 hours – 3 days (can be differentiated)

Subject Areas:  History / Social Studies, ELA, Art, and Technology 

Overview: Students will engage with MLK in a variety of different ways before creating their own ‘Obama Hope’ poster.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Resources

• Teachervision has a great compelation of resoucres and lessons for MLK day for different grade levels: https://www.teachervision.com/holidays/martin-luther-king-jr

Below is a youtube video from PBSNews that is a nice overview of MLK day and student engagement (from 2011)

• This is a great, short lesson about Ruby Bridges from Stanford University

• MLK Wordsearch- PDF

Day of Service

MLK is a day of service, have your student discuss what service means and how they can be of service to others in our modern, covid impacted world. Check out this info from the Ameri Corps.

Have younger students draw a picture of the service they provided to someone in their family. Older students can write a short descriptive essay explaining what they did and how it helped another person.

Below is a short video from President Obama from 2015 talking about MLK Day of Service

• The iconic HOPE poster designed by artist Shepard Fairey is recognizable around the world. Learn more about the poster here.
• The style of the poster has been recreated with other historical figures with other statements. Below is an example of a MLK ‘hope’ poster.

ACTIVITY

• Have you students talk about what HOPE and DREAM mean to them.
• Make a list of other words that inspire change for the better good.
• Have each student choose their favorite word from the list.

• Have you students take a ‘presidential’ picture (encourage them to dress up!)
• Use http://obamapostermaker.com/ for each student to create their own poster and screen shot it to share with the group.

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FABLAB If we had access to our fab lab, we could use the laser cutter to engrave the posters into a piece of wood for students to make into magnets, or to display. We could also print out the posters to create buttons!

Extension Activities:

After the students design their symbol it is up to the teacher to expand on the activity the following are some ideas that would work.  Please let the MFL team know if you think of anything that should be added to this list!

ART: have students print out their photo in black and white and color it with red and blue to match Shepard Fairey’s style.

HISTORY:  Focus on MLKs mission and how it lives on today.

MATH: Have students look up the crowd numbers for MLK speeches and Barack Obama’s speeches (or other polital/historical figures) Have them create a ratio of attendance.

ELA:   There are countless books about MLK out there and writing exercises for students of all grades to engage with!

Please take pictures of the work you do after the MFL visit and send them to the MFL team along with any anecdotal information about who the project went.  Or, if you combine a few of the extensions and have the students present their work, please invite the MFL team!

Grade Range:  3-8

Class time: 2 hours – 3 days (can be differentiated)

Subject Areas:  Art, History, ELA, Technology 

Overview:  Students can engage in multiple activities  to learn about Adinkra Symbols before creating their own that can be fabricated in many ways.

Intro to Adinkra

• Adinkra are symbols that represent words or phrases, they originated in Africa, in what is now South Ghana and were originally created by the Akan people. Adinkra were printed onto cloth, or pressed into pottery, and were only used by royals.
• The Talking Cloth, is a book for younger students (grades K-3) that is a great way to introduce Adinrka.
• Adinkra Symbols were featured in the move The Black Panther. Many students are familiar with this movie, watching it together (it is PG-13) or discussing the movie is a way to introduce the topic to older students.

Below are a few videos from youtube that talk about the history of the Adinkra, they range in depth and length. The first video is made by an art teacher and is 1 minute long. The second video goes into a bit more detail and is 3 minutes long, and the last video has a ton of info and is 15 minutes long:

ADINKRA INFORMATION HANDOUT

Design your own Adinkra

STEP ONE: What are you Core Values?

Have students complete the What are my Core Values? worksheet to determine their top three values.

Fabrication opportunity : Students can use their core values to create a bracelet or emblem to wear to represent their values.

STEP TWO: Design your Adinkra

Give students copies of the ADINKRA SYMBOL CHART , or share it online. Have students read through them all and talk about their meanings and if they overlap at all. Have them find similar symbols or opposite symbols.

Have students complete the DESIGN YOUR OWN ADINKRA Activity

*** To focus on the design process, teachers can break up this worksheet to include student peer to peer feedback before students pick their favorite symbol and draw it on the grid for part 6 of the worksheet.

FABRICATION

3D PRINTING – Emblem / Keychain

Using Tinkercad, have students create a 3D version of their Adinkra Symbol that can be printed and worn as an emblem.

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*Start with a cylinder that is 75mmx75mm and is 3 mm tall. The symbols should be ON TOP of the cylinder to ensure easy printing

*Students need to add a hole to the top of the cylinder, or a tube loop for the string to go through

Vinyl Cutting – Sticker / T-Shirt / Stencils / Stamps

Have students design their symbol using a 2D program such as Silhouette, Inkscape or Corel. Or you can have students create the symbol using Google Drawings or Powerpoint. Or using Freelogodesign.org, a great free site!

Once students have created their designs, they can be used to create Vinyl Stickers, or cut from heat press vinyl to make t-shirts

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Students could also use their vinyl sicker to carve out a stamp from rubber or sponge or printing. Or create a negative space stencil for printing or wood burning.

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Laser Cutting – Leather Journal / Night Light

Turning the students design into a Corel draw file will allow them to be able to cut or engraved with the laser.

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Extension Activities:

After the students design their symbol it is up to the teacher to expand on the activity the following are some ideas that would work.  Please let the MFL team know if you think of anything that should be added to this list!

ART: have students create their own Adinkra Cloth, or pottery pieces

HISTORY:  focus on the history of Ghana and the Akan people. Look at other pictorial languages such as Egyptian Hieroglyphs.

MATH: Look at the positive / negative space of a two dimensional symbol. Break symbols down into simple shapes to find the area and perimeter of complex shapes.

ELA:  There are a ton of books about Adinkra at various reading levels to engage students in reading about these wonderful symbols. There area also a bunch of book for academic reading on Black Panther, a great way to get students reading!

Please take pictures of the work you do after the MFL visit and send them to the MFL team along with any anecdotal information about who the project went.  Or, if you combine a few of the extensions and have the students present their work, please invite the MFL team!

History of Jack o lanterns from History.com

TINKERCAD PROJECT:

Link to tinkercad pumpkin base

Easy: Have students decorate the pumpkin with shapes

Medium: use the hole feature to carve into the pumpkin

Hard: Hollow out the pumpkin and carve a face or design

Challenge: Also cut out a hole in the bottom on the pumpkin so that if it is printed, you can put a battery candle inside!

Grade Range:  2-8

Class time: 1 hour – 3 days (can be differentiated)

Subject Areas:  Art, History, ELA, Science, Technology 

Overview:  Students can engage in multiple activities  to learn about Dia de los Muertos and Alebrijes before creating their own creature.

Essential Question:  How can we create our own Alebrije?

Coco Activates

• Watch the movie Coco with your students or have them watch it during off screen time. This is a great Pixar movie that focuses on Mexican culture, Dia de los Muertos and family.  The main character, Miguel’s great great grandmother has an Alebrije in the land of the dead.  This is an excellent way to introduce the topic!
• Coco is currently on Disney + if you have a subscription. If you do not want the students to watch the film, below is a link to the preview of the movie and have students discuss if they have seen it or not.

• Here is a link to Coco Movie Questions, these are very basic and general to keep kids engaged when watching, or they can be given as a follow up. These questions are written for students in grades 3-5, feel free to create your own version that is more appropriate for your students. NOTE: The link has the answers at the bottom- please do not share this link directly with students.

Dia De Los Muertos Resources

• This is an amazing animated short film (3 minutes) without words that shows a little girl on Dia De Los Muertos.

• The video below is 18 minutes long and goes into the history of the Day of the Dead with more detail:

• National Geographic Kids article on Dia de los Muertos.
• Create your own Sugar Skull Design Worksheet.
• Create a Sugar Skull on Tinkercad!
  • 2d Template
  • 3D template

Alebrije Resources

• Read over the Alebrijie wiki page
• Here is a great 9 minute video about Alebrijes:

• Create your own Alebrije Worksheet

CMSD TEACHERS: If you would like to continue this project when students are back in the classroom, please reach out to sarah wallace at sarah.wallace@clvelandmetroschools.org to work out how we can bring your students alebrijes to life!

Extension Activities:

After the students create their animals it is up to the teacher to expand on the activity the following are some ideas that would work.  Please let the MFL team know if you think of anything that should be added to this list!

ART: have students decorate their creatures. They can do it in a variety of styles  or mediums to make it more interesting and rigorous rather than just having them color it.  Possible styles could be: 

• Show examples of Alebrijes and have students decorate their sculptures with markers or paints in the same motif.-  Talk about Perdo Linares- the artist who created Alebrijes.
• Ancient egypt- have kids look up ancient egyptian hieroglyphs to get color ideas, they could also try to draw the hieroglyphs onto the creatures themselves. 
• Famous artists- have each student (or in groups) choose (or you can assign) a famous artist and have them decorate their creature in that style. 
• Animal- have the kids decorate each part of the creature correctly for that specific animal part

HISTORY:  have students research the role of the Sphinx in ancient egyptian, roman, greek and Asian cultures.  They can do a compare and contrast assessment of how the different cultures saw the creature. 

SCIENCE:

• have students look up the scientific names to each of the animals that make up their creature.  Then have them create a scientific name for their made up creature that incorporates the original animal names. 
• Have students determine what type of animal their creature would be (mammal, amphibian, herbivore, omnivore etc), what type of environment would it need to live in and what characteristics might it have.

ELA:  

• have students write a myth  or fable that goes along with their creature. 
• Students give their creature magical powers and create a comic of it being a superhero
• Students can work in small groups to write a play in which their creatures are the actors (they can also be attached to strings to turn them into simple puppets)

Please take pictures of the work you do after the MFL visit and send them to the MFL team along with any anecdotal information about who the project went.  Or, if you combine a few of the extensions and have the students present their work, please invite the MFL team!

Additional Resources: 

Sphinx Videos:

Hour long Ancient History documentary on the Riddle of the Sphinx– goes into how it was built

Two minute long documentary about the spinx- better for older kids 

Four minute long documentary about the riddle of the spinx by a sesame street puppet

Five minute documentary- History for Kids

Hour long NOVA documentary 

$3 Teacher pay Teachers worksheet that goes along with the video

 Spinx Coloring pages:

Google image search of Sphinx Coloring Page

K-5 Learning Sphinx Worksheet packet (grade 3-5)

Follow up Sphinx questions

wooJR greek mythology worksheets and coloring pages FREE to print!

Books:

4th-7th grade chapter books: Secret of the Sphinx

1-4th grade story book: How the Sphinx got into the museum

Kid’s Ancient History book: Great Sphinx of Giza

2nd-5th grade graphic novel: Secret of the Sphinx

ADVANCED: Mensa Mythology unit

Alebrije Resources: 

AMAZING post on Alebrijes with LOTS of links!

Crayola Sculpture lesson 

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PROJECT ONE: The Four Color Theorem

1. Did you know you can color in ANY MAP with just four colors? Read through this page from Math is Fun to learn all about it!

2. Play this Four Color Game online, can you get up to level 20? level 40? If you can take a screen shot ,take one of your high score!

3. The Four Color Game is fun online and is much easier when the game tells you if you’ve made a mistake or you can easily change your colors. But working on it in real life is trickier! If you have a printer at home, print out this color sheet and color it in with only 4 colors- Make sure none of the same colors touch at all! Four Colors Color Sheet

PROJECT TWO: Impossible Shapes

1. Check out this Impossible Geometry info from Kiddle.

2. Watch this Learn with Diva video and follow along with her to create an impossible triangle:

3. Check out this Ladder video from Diva, see if you can do it too:

4. Look at the Prong shape below, can you figure out why it would be impossible in real life?

Try to draw it yourself and write a few sentences about why it is impossible:

PROJECT THREE: Tesselations

1. What is a Tessellation? It’s a big word that you may have never heard of before, but you’ve definitely seen them! Check out this video on Tessellations:

2. Here is a more complex video about the Mathematical Art of Artist, MC Esher:

3. Use this online tool to create your own tessellation: Try it with a Triangle, Rectangle and Hexagon. If you can take a screen shot of your work, do it! 🙂 ONLINE TESSELLATION TOOL from Interactivate.

PROJECT FOUR: FRACTALS

1. Fractals are amazing patterns that can be found all over the world! Check out this video from MIT about Fractal Fun:

Create the following simple fractals:

1. Fractal Tree: 

         Start with your paper in the landscape position.   Draw a 1 inch line starting from the bottom center of the page.  Next, create a Y shape.  Now, using each of the ‘arms’ of the first Y will become the base of the next level of Ys.   Continue this process until the page is filled.   Try creating the Tree using different colors to differentiate the levels. 

2. Koch Snowflake    

 Start with an equilateral triangle with each side measuring 3 inches.   Next, divide each side into thirds.  Erase the center third of each side and use it to create additional equilateral triangles with 1 inch sides.  Continue this process until the sides are too small to keep going.  

3. Inward Pentagon  
Create a regular pentagon in the center of your page as large as you can (or use this template).  Mark the center of each side of the pentagon and connect those dots with straight lines to create a smaller pentagon on the inside of the first one (the blue one in the image below).  Repeat this process to create the green pentagon and again for the orange pentagon….  continue until you can no longer create any smaller pentagon.   Finally, choose 2 colors and color your fractal like in the photo to the left.  

SHARE YOUR WORK:

Take pictures of all of the art work you created and any screen shots and send them to Ms. Wallace (sarah.wallace@clevelandmetroschools.org) and your teacher in an email AND copy and paste the questions below and answer them in the email:

1. What is your Name, Grade, School and Teacher?
2. Which STEAM Art project was your favorite, why?
3. Give an example of where tessellations are found in nature:
4. Give an example of where fractals are found in nature:
5. What other examples can you think of that combine Math and Art?
6. What do you want to build next?

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PHASE ONE: LEARN

1. Do you know who invented airplanes? The Wright Brothers, from Ohio! Read info about them here: The Wright Brothers

2. Watch this video from Learn with Diva about Airplanes Fly:

3. Read this Scholastic Article about How Paper Airplanes Fly

Aerodynamics

What makes a paper airplane fly? Air — the stuff that’s all around you. Hold your hand in front of your body with your palm facing sideways so that your thumb is on top and your pinkie is facing the floor. Swing your hand back and forth. Do you feel the air? Now turn your palm so it is parallel to the ground and swing it back and forth again, like you’re slicing it through the air. You can still feel the air, but your hand is able to move through it more smoothly than when your hand was turned up at a right angle. How easily an airplane moves through the air, or its aerodynamics, is the first consideration in making an airplane fly for a long distance.

Drag and Gravity

Planes that push a lot of air, like your hand did when it was facing the side, are said to have a lot of “drag,” or resistance, to moving through the air. If you want your plane to fly as far as possible, you want a plane with as little drag as possible. A second force that planes need to overcome is “gravity.” You need to keep your plane’s weight to a minimum to help fight against gravity’s pull to the ground.

Thrust and Lift

“Thrust” and “lift” are two other forces that help your plane make a long flight. Thrust is the forward movement of the plane. The initial thrust comes from the muscles of the “pilot” as the paper airplane is launched. After this, paper airplanes are really gliders, converting altitude to forward motion. Lift comes when the air below the airplane wing is pushing up harder than the air above it is pushing down. It is this difference in pressure that enables the plane to fly. Pressure can be reduced on a wing’s surface by making the air move over it more quickly. The wings of a plane are curved so that the air moves more quickly over the top of the wing, resulting in an upward push, or lift, on the wing.

The Four Forces in Balance

A long flight occurs when these four forces — drag, gravity, thrust, and lift — are balanced. Some planes (like darts) are meant to be thrown with a lot of force. Because darts don’t have a lot of drag and lift, they depend on extra thrust to overcome gravity. Long distance fliers are often built with this same design. Planes that are built to spend a long time in the air usually have a lot of lift but little thrust. These planes fly a slow and gentle flight.

4.Watch this short video on how to make a super basic paper airplane:

PHASE TWO: DESIGN

1. Check out these SIMPLE PAPER AIRPLANE DESIGSNS

2. To create your first airplane you can only use the materials below:

• Printer or notebook paper

3. Besides the Basic airplane, choose two additional paper airplanes that you think you can build. draw a picture of all three.

PHASE THREE: BUILD AND TEST

TEST ONE: DESIGN:

1. Using only printer or notebook paper build the BASIC airplane
2. Build at least 2 additional planes from the FoldNFly site. Use a pen or pencil to write the name of your planes on the wings so you don’t mix them up.
3. Time to test out your planes with a SCIENCE EXPERIMENT
   • HYPOTHESIS: before you start, examine all three of your planes and write your answers the questions below on a sheet of paper, or type them up in a new document.
     1. Which Plane do you think will fly the farthest? Why do you think?
     2. How far do you think the planes will go in feet?
   • TEST: Go outside, or in a large room or hallway where you will have room to toss your airplanes. Make sure you wont hit anyone or anything!
   • Throw each airplane from the same spot. Try to throw them the same way each time!
   • RECORD: Write down the answers to these questions:
     1. Which airplane went there farthest? Was your guess correct?
     2. How far did each airplane go? (if you don’t have a measuring tape, measure in your feet!)
   • REPEAT! Go back to the same place you started and throw each plane one more time to repeat your experiment
     1. Did you get the same results (did the same plane go the farthest?)
   • IMPROVE: Create a 4th plane- this can either be a design from the FoldNFly site, or you can try to create one of your own
   • REPEAT: Test all 4 of your airplanes
     1. Which airplane when the farthest?
     2. Are the planes flying in similar patterns?

TEST TWO: MATERIALS:

1. Go back to the basic airplane design. You should have one airplane made of printer or notebook paper. For this test, you need to create another basic airplane made of another material. Choose a material from the list below:
   • newspaper
   • Cardstock (heavy paper like a post card)
   • Cereal Box (use scissors to cut it the same size as printer paper)
   • Wrapping paper (use scissors to cut it the same size as printer paper)
   • Other paper material you can find in your house that is different from the paper you used to make your original plane)
2. Now that you have TWO planes of the same design made from different materials, we are going to TEST again
   • HYPOTHESIS:
     1. Which material plane do you think will go the farthest?
     2. Why do you think that material is better for paper airplanes?
   • TEST: Go to the same place you threw the airplanes for the same test and throw both your airplanes.
   • RECORD:
     1. Which plane went the farthest? Were you correct?
     2. How far did each plane go?

PHASE FOUR: SHARE

Take pictures of all of your airplanes, and the answers to your experiment questions (if you typed them up, it’s okay you can send them in an email),

Send them to Ms. Wallace (sarah.wallace@clevelandmetroschools.org) and your teacher in an email AND copy and paste the questions below and answer them in the email:

1. What is your Name, Grade, School and Teacher?
2. List 3 things you learned about the Wright Brothers.
3. Explain how airplanes are able to fly even though they are very heavy:
4. Which 3 airplane designs did you make?
5. Which airplane did you think would go the farthest for your Hypothesis for test one? Were you correct? How far did each of your airplanes go?
6. When you repeated your test, were the results the same? Explain
7. For test two, what other material did you use to create a second plane? What was your hypothesis for which would go farther? Were you correct How far did they go?
8. If you were to build airplanes again, how could you improve your designs?
9. What do you want to build next?

Now that you’ve completed your second project, it’s time to move onto something a little more tricky. Houses!

Designing a house in tinkercad can range from super simple, to crazy complex. So for this project you’re going to design 4 different things!

Hollow House Exercise

1. Simple House Shape
   • For this design, you will need to create a simple house shape first like the yellow house to the right:
   • Check out the video below on how to create the simple house shape

2. Hollow Houses

Now you’re going to create the red hollow house, and the green hollow house. Check out the differences- one has a floor and one doesn’t!

Check out this short video to give you some tips:

Now that you have made the Red house, try to make the green one!

Once you have finished the green and red house, you are finished with this project

Your Project is complete! Time to submit your work:

a) If you are logged in as a member of a class- you’re all set- your project is already shared with your teacher!

b) If you are on tinkercad on your own, fill out this form to submit your work: TINKERCAD FORM

TO GET THE LINK TO YOUR DESIGN:

1. Click on your design from your home page so a pop up window opens.
2. Select the website address from the top of your screen and COPY IT (you can do this by right clicking on your mouse and choose COPY.

3. You will need this to send the link in the form so Ms. Wallace can see your design!

Now that you’ve completed your first project, it’s time to move onto something a little more tricky. FLATBOTS!

Flatbots, are little robots that can lie flat on their backs. Laying down flat makes them easy to 3D print and easier to design.

Before you start to make a design, flatbots have a few requirements:

• Your flatbot can only use basic shapes from tinkercad
• It must include five different shapes
• It must be totally flat on the back- nothing floating for hanging down under the build plate
• All parts of the flatbots must be connected or overlapping!

First, let’s do a quick activity to help make you a better flatbot designer!

1. Click on the link for the MISTAKES BOT.
2. Click COPY TO TINKER- this will make a copy of the design in your tinkercad.
3. The boybot is good to go- but the girl bot has a few mistakes- see if you can fix them!
4. Once you think you’ve fixed all of the mistakes, watch the video below to make sure you fixed all of the issues with the flatbot!

Now it’s time to create a flatbot of your own!

1. Go back to your Tinkercad home page and click the blue CREATE NEW DESIGN button.
2. As always, the first thing you need to do is CHANGE THE NAME of your project! This project should be named yournameFlatbot
3. Start designing your flatbot! Remember:
   • you must use at least 5 basic shapes
   • you can only use basic shapes
   • everything must be connected
   • nothing floating or underground
4. Size your flatbot
   • Your flat bot must be smaller than: 75mm tall, 50 mm wide and 10 mm thick.
   • Watch this video on how to size your bot:

Your flatbot is complete! Time to submit your work:

a) If you are logged in as a member of a class- you’re all set- your project is already shared with your teacher!

b) If you are on tinkercad on your own, fill out this form to submit your work: TINKERCAD FORM

TO GET THE LINK TO YOUR DESIGN:

1. Click on your design from your home page so a pop up window opens.
2. Select the website address from the top of your screen and COPY IT (you can do this by right clicking on your mouse and choose COPY.

3. You will need this to send the link in the form so Ms. Wallace can see your design!

Tinkercad.com is an amazing, free 3D modeling and design website that people around the world use to create amazing things! The name TINKERCAD comes from TINKER- which means to play around with and CAD- which stands for COMPUTER ASSISTED DESIGN, a common term in the digital fabrication world.

If you have any questions on how to join tinkercad, email Ms. Wallace or your teacher, or Zoom with Ms. Wallace on Wednesdays!

JOIN YOUR CLASS

1. If your teacher has given you a USERNAME and CLASS CODE, go to Tinkercad.com and choose SIGN IN in the upper right corner.

2. Next click the GREEN – Students Join your Class box.

3. Enter the Class Code your teacher sent you

4. Enter the username your teacher gave you

5. You’re all set- head to the next step in Tinkercad at home.

Create a New Tinkercad Account on your own

1. If you would like to join tinkercad on your own, you will need an email address and permission from your parent or guardian. Go to Tinkercad.com and choose JOIN NOW in the upper right corner.

2. Click the dark blue: CREATE A PERSONAL ACCOUNT button.

3. Next click SIGN UP WITH EMAIL

4 . Enter your Birthday

5. Create a username- your username should be: CMSDyourname. For example, CMSDjohnsmith

6. Create a password that you will not forget- GO WRITE IT DOWN RIGHT NOW!

7. Enter your email address or your parent’s email if they are helping you.

8. You’re all set- head to the next step in Tinkercad at home.

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PHASE ONE: LEARN

1. Read info about the Eiffel Tower from Nat Geo Kids

2. Read over these great Eiffel Tower Facts:

3. Watch this video about the Eiffel Tower:

4. Check out the Eiffel tower on Google Maps

PHASE TWO: DESIGN

1. Do some google research on paper towers- try searching “best paper tower” and “eiffel tower made of paper’ look at the images, videos and links to see what’s out there!

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2. Make a list of the materials you have around your house that you can use to create your Paper Eiffel Tower, you can ONLY use materials that are on the list below:

• Printer paper
• writing paper
• newspaper
• tape

3. Make a blue print of your ideas- draw out the tower you’re hoping to build. Include some measurements if you can- how tall do you want your tower to big? How wide?

PHASE THREE: BUILD

Time to build! Use your materials and build your paper Eiffel Tower!

PHASE FOUR: SHARE

Take pictures of your tower, and blue prints! Send them to Ms. Wallace (sarah.wallace@clevelandmetroschools.org) and your teacher in an email AND copy and paste the questions below and answer them in the email:

1. What is your Name, Grade, School and Teacher?
2. List 3 things you learned about the Eiffel Tower.
3. What materials did you use in your tower?
4. How tall is your tower?
5. How long did it take you to create your tower?
6. Did your tower come out as good as you hoped it did?
7. If you could start again, how could you improve your tower?
8. What would you like to build next?

To share your Fab projects during this time, please send Ms. Wallace an e-mail at sarah.wallace@clevelandmetroschools.org . Include photos and a description of your work along with your name, school, teachers name and grade.

If you are submitting a tinkercad project, please complete this form: TINKERCAD SUBMISSION FORM

1. Go to Tinkercad.com and log in to your account
2. At the top right corner of the page, click LEARN(highlighted yellow in the picture below)

3. Next click, SEE ALL STARTERS, then choose PLACE IT to start the lessons. There are 7 starter lessons to go through to learn the basics of Tinkercad. Be sure you read all the instructions on the left side of the screen and follow the directions!

4. Once you’re done with all the starter lessons, click on the tinkercad square rainbow logo in the upper left corner (in the pink box in the photo below) to go back to your home page

5. Click on the blue box that says CREATE NEW DESIGN

6. Every time you create a new design, tinkercad gives your design a crazy new name (in the yellow box in the photo below) It’s VERY IMPORTANT that you remember to change the name of your project as soon as you start it! To change the name, click on the crazy name in the upper left corner, and hit backspace to erase it. Then type YOUR NAME , PROJECT. For example, if you were making a car and your name was John you would name it: JOHN, CAR For this project, we are going to make a KEYCHAIN

7. Use the Red Box, Hole Cylinder and the TEXT tool to create a keychian with your name on it as in the picture below. Double check all the measurements so it’s the right size!

Need help making the keychain? Check out this video!

8. Once your keychain is complete it’s time to share your project

a) If you are logged in as a member of a class- you’re all set- your project is already shared with your teacher!

b) Fill out this form to submit your work to Ms. Wallace: TINKERCAD FORM

TO GET THE LINK TO YOUR DESIGN:

1. Click on your design from your home page so a pop up window opens.
2. Select the website address from the top of your screen and COPY IT (you can do this by right clicking on your mouse and choose COPY.

3. You will need this to send the link in the form so Ms. Wallace can see your design!